Combination cuff link for regular or french cuff shirts



April 28, 1959 i w. J. M DONOUGH, JR 2,883,725

COMBINATION CUFF LINK FOR REGULAR OR FRENCH CUFF SHIRTS Filed Sept. 16, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIGL INVENTTOR. I wH-UAM A. M Donovan) AT TO 12 MEYS April 28, 1959 w. J. M DONOUGH, JR 7 2,883,725

COMBINATION CUFF LINK FOR REGULAR OR FRENCH CUFF SHIRTS Filed Sept. 16, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fla. 5

5Q, INVENTOR.

WHJJAM 3M Douqur-H, .\r BY %%mazq WW v AQMM ATTQQHEYS United States Patent COMBINATION CUFF LINK FOR REGULAR OR FRENCH CUFF SHIRTS William J. McDonough, Jr., Hutchinson, Kans.

Application September 16, 1955, Serial No. 534,749

1 Claim. (Cl. 24-113) Summarized briefly, the present invention is a cult link attachment to a conventional cuff button or to a cuff link element of the size of a cuif button. The attachment is an ornamental body recessed to receive said button or element and having means to lock the button or element in the recess. In one form, said means is a swinging bar shiftable over the button and cooperating with a lip or overhang of the recess to hold the button or link element in the recess. In another form a pair of crossed bars is used, and in a third form a sliding lock plate is employed.

Among important objects of the invention are the following:

To increase measurably the number of seemingly different cufi links one might wear, by the use of different attachments to a single cuff button or basic culf link element;

To permit one to wear cuff-link-simulating articles on conventional cufl buttons of single-cufif shirts;

To provide an elfective lock means for the attachment, that will not only be easy to actuate to locking and unlocking positions, but also, will add only to an unsignificant extent to the thickness of the device, and will be invisible to the casual observer;

To fully recess the button in the attachment so that it will not increase the thickness of the device in any way and will be wholly concealed; and

To provide a device as stated that will be capable of manufacture at low cost, will be attractive when worn, and will be usable both with ordinary cuff buttons and links of French cuffs.

Other objects will appear from the following description, the claim appended thereto, and from the annexed drawings in which like reference characters designate like parts throughout the several views and wherein:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of a singlecuif shirt sleeve having the cufi link attachment applied thereto;

Figure 2 is an enlarged section on line 22 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a sectional view on line 33 of Figure 2, the dotted lines showing the lock bar in its button-releasing position;

Figure 4 is a detail sectional view, still further enlarged, on line 44 of Figure 3, showing the detent means of the lock bar;

Figure 5 is a section on line 55 of Figure 3;

Figure 6 is a view like Figure 3 of a modification;

Figure 7 is a detail section of the detent means of the modified form, on line 77 of Figure 6;

Figure 8 is a rear perspective view of another modification;

Figure 9 is a section on line 9-9 of Figure 8; and

Figure 10 is a perspective view of a cuff link element that can be used with the attachment on French cuff shirts.

In the form of the invention shown in Figures 1-5, the device is shown attached to a conventional cuff button of a single-cuff shirt sleeve. The sleeve includes 2 a cufi 10 having the usual button 12 to which is applied the attachment 14 constituting the present invention.

The device includes a body 15 of any desired shape, size or ornamentation having in its inner face a shallow circular recess 16 formed with an overhang or lip 18 partially overlying the cult button 12 (Figures 2 and 3). An elongated, straight lock bar 20 is pivotally connected at 22 at one end to a corner of the body 15 to swing in a plane close to and paralleling that of the underside of the body. The bar swings between a locking position shown in full lines in Figure 3 in which it extends chordally of the button 12 over an area of the button substantially diametrically opposite that covered by the lip, and a second position, shown in dotted lines in Figure 3, in which it is wholly clear of the button to permit detachment of the device from the button.

The bar has three locking positions in the illustrated example, any of which may be selectively employed according to the size of the button 12. To this end, the bar has a short longitudinal locking rib or detent 24 adjacent its free end engageable by reason of a slight springiness of the lock bar in any of three side-by-side locking grooves 26 of the body 15.

In use, the body 15 is placed upon the button with the button extending within the recess under the lip 18. The lock bar is then swung to a selected locking position and held there by interengagement of the detent 24 and a selected groove 26. The article now appears to be a conventional cufi link (see Figure 1), with the button and lock means wholly concealed.

In Figures 6 and 7, a body 30 has on its underside oppositely, longitudinally curved lock bars 32, 34 pivotally connected at one end as at 36 to the body to swing over diametrically opposite portions of a recess 37 receiving button 12. A lip is not here used. The bars, when swung toward one another to locking positions, overlap at their free ends and are locked to one another rather than to the 'body. Bar 32 has a small circular lug or detent 38 engaging in a locking recess 40 of bar 34. Since the bars when locked are at opposite sides of the thread 41 by means of which the button is sewed to the end, they will be held by the thread itself against swinging in either direction to such an extent as would cause them to move clear of the button.

In Figures 8 and 9 the body 42 is formed with parallel guide flanges 44 terminating adjacent a recess 46 having a lip 48 disposed diametrically. opposite the portion of the recess to which the guide flanges extend, and extending normally to the lengths of the guide flanges.

A lock plate 50 slides in the flanges and has a handle 52 and spaced locking recesses 54, either of which may receive a lug 56 formed on the body, in selected locking positions to which the plate is shifted over the button, thus to cooperate with the lip in holding the button in the recess.

Any of these three forms of the invention can be attached either to a cuff button 12 of a single-cuff shirt, or a cuff link element 58 (Figure 10) usable on French cuffs. Element 58 has a fiat head or 'button 59 of the general size and shape of a cuif button 12. Extending from the head 59 are parallel arms 60 on which a cross bar is pivotally mounted. A conventional cuff link fastener thus is provided, usable on French cufls and any selected pair of attachments having lock means formed as in Figures 3, 6 or 8 can be connected thereto.

It is believed apparent that the invention is not necessarily confined to the specific use or uses thereof described above since it may be utilized for any purpose to which it may be suited. Nor is the invention to be necessarily limited to the specific construction illustrated and described, since such construction is only intended to be illustrative of the principles it being considered that the invention comprehends any minor change in construction that may be permitted within the scope of the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

A cuf-link-simulating article for connection to a cuffattached button, comprising: a body having a planiform face formed with a button-receiving recess, said face having a wide marginal portion and extending fully about said recess; means extending across the recess at one side thereof and partially at least closing said side to engage against movement out of the recess one side of a button received therein; and a member connected to said marginal portion outwardly from the recess at the other side thereof, said member being connected to said marginal portion for movement toward and away from said'nieans, into and out of position in which the member extends across the other side of the recess and engages the other side of the button against movement out of the recess, said member moving wholly in a plane closely spaced from and paralleling the planeof said face; and a locking detent formed on said member, said body having an arcuate series of recesses any one of which is adapted to receive the detent, said recesses being so disposed that the member will engage the other side of the button against movement out of the first named recess regardbody, said series of detent-receiving recesses being disposed at one side of the recess and the pivot point of the arm being disposed at a diametrically opposite location at the other side of the recess, said series of detentreceiving recesses curving about the pivot point of the arm, said means comprising a lip rigid with the body and disposed substantially in the plane of said face of the body, the lip having a straight edge extending as a chord of the recess, said member, during its movement toward and away from said position thereof, extending in slidable contact with the body, said member, in any position thereof in which its detent is engaged in a detent-receiving recess, extending in angular relation to said edge of the lip, said member having intermediate its ends a recess adapted to receive an attaching thread used for connecting the buttons to said cuff.

References titted in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS- 277,005 Close May 8, 1883 346,649 Fox Aug. 3, 1886 363,628 Fox May 24, 1887 502,201 Pilbeam July 25, 1893 581,111 Goodwin Apr. 20, 1897 734,334 Jockin July 21, 1903 758,459 Moon Apr. 26, 1904 1,083,372 Meyer Jan. 6, 1914 2,577,723 Groh Dec. 4, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS 5,387 Great Britain 1893 332,900 France June 9, 1903 

